OU baseball seeks consistency ahead of West Virginia series. 'Stay with your routines'
NORMAN — Coach Skip Johnson’s No. 17-ranked OU baseball team dropped a tough 6-0 midweek contest to No. 15 Dallas Baptist Tuesday night. That came on the heels of sweeping then-No. 12 TCU in a three-game series last weekend in Fort Worth, Texas.
That’s baseball.
Johnson’s message to his team to start this season has been to not get too high after big wins and to not get too low after defeats. Staying even–keeled is key in a game that requires players’ patience and relentless dedication to bring their best every day.
“(You’ve got to) stay with your routines,” said Johnson, who has long preached competing pitch to pitch. “Your routines, how you practice, how you go about your business. When you get in the cage, when you go to take ground balls, you’ve just gotta stay with your routines. Gotta stay with your practice plan, you've got to continue to grow in that area.”
The Sooners’ skipper cites big leaguers like Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and future hall of famer Albert Pujols, whose daily approach and preparation set them apart.
While those things come over the course of a season, Johnson has been pleased with the buy-in from his group to start. Oklahoma is 13-7 through its first 20 contests, including 6-0 and alone atop the Big 12 standings.
OU has a chance to turn around and display the type of level headedness Johnson is looking for this weekend in a three-game series against West Virginia. The Sooners and the Mountaineers face off at 7 p.m. Friday on FS1, 4 p.m. Saturday and 12 p.m. Sunday on ESPN+ at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
“You’ve got the highs and lows (throughout a season),” senior outfielder Bryce Madron said. “But everybody just tries to stay even-keeled. So if we can do that this weekend, we should come up with another sweep.”
More: OU baseball: Get to know the 2024 Oklahoma Sooners roster, schedule
Braden Davis aims for another strong start
During the offseason, Johnson rebuilt his pitching staff from the bottom up through the transfer portal, while keeping a few veteran contributors.
Sam Houston State transfer Braden Davis, a lefty with a 5.09 ERA in 23 innings so far, was a significant piece of Johnson’s plans and he’s proved to be up to the task to start the season. Primarily a reliever last season, Davis has cemented himself as OU’s Friday starter and is fitting in well in the clubhouse.
“It’s going good,” Davis said. “When I first got here, the guys welcomed me in pretty well and I knew (John Spikerman) from the summer so I hung around him for a little bit and he showed me the ways so I got pretty comfortable.”
Last Friday against the Horned Frogs, the junior from Keller, Texas, allowed three runs and three hits in four innings of work. Davis will get the ball in Game 1 vs. West Virginia and try to get the Sooners back on track.
He has the vote of confidence from his teammates, as well.
“He's a really good Friday guy for us,” Madron said. “I mean, (he) throws strikes, lets us work and he gets a lot of strikeouts too. So I mean, it's awesome playing behind that guy.”
More: OU softball run-rules UT Arlington as Alynah Torres hits two home runs for Sooners
Jason Walk steps up
With Spikerman, OU’s starting center fielder, likely out four to six weeks after having hamate surgery on Tuesday, freshman Jason Walk stepped up in a big way vs. DBU.
Walk led the Sooners with two hits on Tuesday night and Johnson expects him to keep up his impressive play this weekend. He even smacked a home run during live at-bats at practice on Wednesday.
“He's a dynamic athlete,” Johnson said. “I think he's really good at what he does. He understands his role. The thing with Jason is he doesn’t ever get too high or too low. … We'll see how it goes and he’ll compete, I know that.”
Injury update
After swinging on a two-strike pitch against TCU last weekend, Spikerman injured his hamate bone. Johnson expects him to be available to pinch-run in a few weeks after rehabbing.
“I think he will remain on the roster to pinch run,” Johnson said. “I would think that. But we'll see how that goes and see what the doctor says about it. We don't know the protocol until our trainer really talks to the doctor and asks them about protocol and running bases and whatnot.”
Carter Frederick wasn’t available Tuesday night due to an undisclosed injury. Johnson said he’s day to day for this weekend’s series.
“He’s fine right now,” Johnson said. “It’s day to day and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU baseball: Sooners seek consistency ahead of West Virginia series
